Thursday, December 16, 2010

Alcohol is the cheapest drug on the market, the price is too low, just about anyone with a dollar and some change can afford to buy another drink. Alcoholism is a worldwide problem and the number of people drinking, or should I say, can afford to drink is extremely high. Last year, more people than ever died from alcohol abuse in Northern Ireland, especially those people living in economically deprived locations across the country. It seems like every year that passes alcohol gets a little bit stronger and a little bit cheaper fueling the fire of an age old addiction problem. The number of alcohol related deaths has risen by around 50 percent in the last decade with 283 deaths, the age group most affected were people 45-54 and poor, people are dying up to 24 years early according to the AP.

"There is a clear correlation between the growing tide of health harm and cheap, easily available alcohol", said British Liver Trust spokeswoman Sarah Matthews. Alcohol has been embedded into every aspect of our lives, ranging from sports on television and characters in our favorite TV shows, there is hardly a market you can go into anywhere in the world where alcohol is not available. It is no wonder that so many people die every year from abusing a drug that is so easily available. "Coupled with the fact it is sold at pocket money prices, where a bottle of Coke is more expensive than cider, it calls into question what message this sends out to people," she added. "While there is certainly not a one-hit wonder approach to reducing these deaths, there is a package of measures that can have an impact such as better information, a minimum price per unit, mandatory drinks labelling and an end to the retailers using alcohol to drive footfall into their stores."

There needs to be more legislation regarding how alcohol is sold, gimmicks and sales or even ladies' night should go out the window. The less businesses are allowed to entice their customers the less people will drink simply because they will not be able to afford it. The amount of people dying every year from alcohol will never decrease as long as we do nothing to stop it. Alcohol companies should be held financially responsible for the havoc they help create worldwide with their product; that way they will have to charge more for their product and people will be able to afford less.